1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle illumination systems, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved taillight assembly which facilitates an external electrical connection between a powered vehicle and a trailer towed thereby.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of adapter bulbs providing an external electrical connection between a powered vehicle and a trailer is known in the prior art. In this respect, reference is made to two U.S. Patents which issued to H. Reichardt, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,389 having an issue date of Aug. 8, 1967 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,293 having an issue date of Sept. 3, 1968. Both of these Reichardt patents deal with an adapter bulb assembly for providing an external electrical connection between a vehicle and its towed trailer.
In the first mentioned patent, the inventor envisions the use of a specially designed lamp receiving socket on the vehicle. In this respect, longitudinal grooves are formed on an interior surface of the socket with additional pigtail electrical leads then being retained within these grooves in a noninterfering relationship with a taillight bulb inserted within the socket. While being functional for its intended purpose, it can be appreciated that this particular design requires the permanent mounting of the specially designed sockets on the powered vehicle and as such, the interchangeable use of different vehicles would not be possible with the same trailer.
In the second mentioned patent, Reichardt attempts a direct modification to a taillight bulb which would then facilitate the use of any powered vehicle in combination with a trailer being towed by such vehicle. However, it will be noted with respect to the second design that a substantially complex modification of a light bulb is required inasmuch as the electrical pigtail leads are directly connected to the bulb filament leads and extend outwardly and over the lip of the metallic connection base which holds the evacuated glass envelope in which the bulb filaments retained. Present sealing and manufacturing techniques utilized in the industry would most likely result in damage to the extending pigtail leads so as to create short or open circuits, and this fact may account for the lack of commercial success of the invention as disclosed. Further, this second type of bulb adapter requires the use of four of these specially manufactured bulbs to effect an interconnection of the vehicle taillights with the trailer bulb receiving sockets, and accordingly, the expense of utilizing this system is increased due to the requirement of a user having to purchase at least four of the specially manufactured assemblies.
As such, there appears to be a continuing need for new and improved adapter bulb assemblies which would provide an external electrical connection between a powered vehicle and a trailer towed thereby, and in this respect, the present invention fulfills this need.